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Most people enjoy garden fresh tomatoes. The flavor of the home grown fruit of Solanum lycopersicum is far and above anything one can pick up at the local supermarket. For apartment dwellers or others who are spatially challenged as far as land for small scale tomato production is concerned, you are in luck. For there are many varieties of tomatoes, as well as many other vegetables, that can be grown in a very small space or even a container.

Container GardeningPhoto: Joel Gruver, Western Illinois University

We in Northern Illinois are now entering the primetime of tomato planting season and so if you would like to grow tomatoes or peppers in containers there are a few things to consider. One is the size of the container. The larger the container, the happier the tomato plant will be. A three gallon container is probably the smallest type container to use, but with a five gallon or larger container you will probably do better. The container should allow for drainage so if whatever container you use does not have drainage holes, holes should be drilled into the bottom.

The soil should be a mix of good garden soil along with compost along with a little sand to improve drainage. This is especially true if you use a plastic container, such as a bucket or a storage container or tote. Feed the plants with any fertilizer labeled for tomatoes but keep in mind that the leaching rate will be faster in soil kept in a container. This will make it necessary to increase the feeding rate. It is also important to keep the soil moist but not too wet. Again, keep in mind that a container made of wood or other porous material will allow for water to evaporate faster than a plastic container would.

There are many tomato varieties out there that have been bred especially for use in a container. These varieties will of course do well in a container setting, but many heirloom or hybrid varieties will also do well and should be tried. Determinate varieties will grow better if you also have limited height in the spot that you are planting the tomatoes, such as on a balcony. If you are growing your tomatoes on a patio or a place with no such restrictions then you can use any type of plant as you can stake the plants, or use wire cages, as you would in a traditional garden or field.

I have tried a few tomatoes in containers and the following I have found to do great.

Several container varieties:

A cherry variety that does well in any container is Tiny Tim. It is a very compact plant but produces tons of flavorful cherry tomatoes. The seed for Tiny Tim are getting harder to find for some reason and it has been nonexistent in garden centers lately. It is an heirloom and many people have saved the seed for this tomato. The seed can still be found commercially at Victory Seed. It is an early producer that takes about 45 days.

Tiny Tim Tomato Photo: JandLSeed.com

A tomato hybrid that was bred for containers is the Patio tomato put out by Bonnie Plants. Bonnie Plants seems to have cornered the market in live garden plants at all of the big box stores so this variety is not hard to find. These plants are determinate and only grow to about 24 inches tall. It produces well and like many hybrids it is resistant to fusarium wilt (F), alternaria stem canker (A), and gray leaf spot (St). It matures in about 70 days.

Patio Tomato Photo: Bonnie Plants

Several determinate varieties to try:

Both Roma and San Marzano are determinate paste tomatoes. Both will produce well and can be found at many garden centers and most seed companies. As they are determinate, the plants are bush type plants and will stay relatively compact. This being said, you may still want to stake or cage them as they both will produce large amounts of fruit. The tomatoes produced by both of these varieties are excellent in sauces and I also like them in salad as well. They mature in about 70 days.

Celebrity is another determinate tomato that seems to do well in a container. It is a hybrid that produces larger tomatoes that are about 8 ounces and 4 inches across. It grows to about 3 feet and probably needs to be staked or caged. It is resistant to verticillium wilt (V), fusarium wilt races 1 and 2 (F), nematodes, and tobacco mosaic virus (T). Celebrity take about 65 days to mature but produces well until frost.

Tomatoes in Containers Photo:www.finegardening.com

Other varieties:

Better Boy hold the world record for the amount of tomatoes produced by one plant. This plant produces tons of tomatoes and does well in a container. The fruits of this plant can be over one pound each so it would be advisable to cage this plant in a sturdy container. The flavor of the Better Boy tomato is excellent even though it is not an heirloom. Better Boy is an indeterminate variety and is resistant to verticillium wilt (V), fusarium wilt (F), and nematodes (N). It matures in about 70 – 75 days.

Better Boy Tomato Photo: Burpee

Green Zebra Tomato Photo: Burpee

An heirloom variety of tomato that I have found does well in a container setting is Green Zebra. This is an indeterminate plant that produces smaller green striped tomatoes. They have excellent flavor and matures in about 78 days. This plant can reach 9 feet in height so staking is probably required.

As with all tomatoes the varieties listed above need plenty of full sun. They need even watering to ensure that fruit will not rot and keep in mind what was said above about what material the container is mad from.

Fresh garden tomatoes are one of things to look forward to in the summer. Just because you do not have a lot of space or a backyard to grow tomatoes does not mean that you can’t still grow your own! Try a few in a container this year!

If you are among the gardeners that stripped your pepper and tomato plants of fruit when the word of upcoming hard freezes were approaching a while back, you may have a surplus of peppers and tomatoes. The tomatoes are probably green and and the peppers hot. There may seem to be limited ways to use green tomatoes or hot peppers but there are many recipes that call for them. Sauces and salsas are great way to use both!

Green Tomato Salsa Verde

Photo: Moderncomfortfood.com

Green tomato salsa is a great way to use up many of the tomatoes and hot peppers that are left on the vine when freezing weather sets in. This recipe, adapted from the Ball canning guide, is also a great way to store the tomatoes for the winter. It is a green tomato salsa that is sort of like a Mexican salsa verde made with green tomatoes instead of tomatillos. The recipe makes about 6 (8oz) half pints:

4.) Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Huy Fong Sriracha Sauce

Photo: FarmTrucksOrganics.com

Originally from the Eastern Thai city of Sri Racha, Sriracha sauce has become popular in the U.S. in recent years due to Huy Fong Foods in Orange County, California. Although it has been used for many years in Thailand and Vietnam as a dipping sauce, primarily for seafood, the Huy Fong version has a growing following in this country. Chinese-Vietnamese David Tran began the company in 1983 after arriving in California. Although the commercial variety is popular, you can use your own produce to make a homemade variety. The following recipe is from the LocalKitchen blog which makes 5, 4-oz jars:

Day 1. Combine vinegar, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Stir to dissolve. Add peppers & garlic and push under liquid. Cover and allow it to sit overnight (or for several nights; mine sat for about a week).

Day 2 (or 7). Prepare canner, jars and lids.

Strain liquid from pepper-garlic mixture into a medium saucepan. Bring brine to a full boil over high heat; boil, uncovered, until liquid is reduced to 1/4 the original volume, or to a final volume of about 1/2 – 1 cup, about 15 minutes. Add the vegetables, return to a boil, then lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 5 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a food processor and blend until smooth, or leave slightly chunky, per your preference. Return to the saucepan, bring sauce to a simmer, then fill hot jars to 1/2-inch headspace, wipe rims, affix lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Sambal Oelek

Photo: The Food Network

Originally from Indonesia, sambal is a sauce that is made primarily of chili peppers. There are many types of sambals with many differing ingredients depending on their use and the region of Indonesia that they originated from. Sambal oelek is one type of sambal that is popular in the United States, also due to Huy Fong Foods, and is a spicy sauce made from Raw chili paste. It can be used as the base for making other sambals or as an ingredient for other cuisines. Some types of this variant call for the addition of salt or lime into the red mixture. The term “oelek” or sometimes spelled “ulek” is a stone mortar used to make the paste in Asia. Since sambal oelek is primarily made with the fewest ingredients, it is the easiest to make. This recipe is from the Food Network.

1 lb red chile

5 1/2 ounces garlic, peeled and chopped

5 1/2 ounces tender young ginger, peeled and chopped

2 stalks lemongrass, thinly sliced (white part only)

6 fluid ounces vinegar

8 ounces sugar

salt, to taste

1 tablespoon lime zest, chopped

Directions:

1.) Blend the chilies, garlic, ginger and lemon grass in a food processor or mortar and pestle.

2.) While processing gradually add the vinegar.

3.) Place the pureed mixture into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

4.) Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.

5.) Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

6.) Add the salt and lime zest.

7.) Remove from the heat, cool and bottle in sterilized jars.

All of these recipes will help give you a use for all of the green tomatoes and hot peppers that you may not have any other use for. Canning these salsas is also a great way to store them for the winter.

A good tip if you are trying any of these recipes:

When cutting or seeding hot peppers, wear rubber gloves to prevent hands from being burned.

It’s the end of the garden season and, in taking stock of what you produced this year, you may have some standouts in taste and quality among the tomatoes included in the bounty of your garden. You may have received a really great heirloom tomato from a friend and wish you could get some of those seeds for yourself.

Or you may have a true heirloom, one tomato that has been passed down from generation to generation. There are many reasons to save seeds from year-to-year. Some other reasons that I did not mention above are that saved seeds are free and it is a lot of fun to do-it-yourself. To show you how to save seeds from every vegetable grown is nearly impossible in one article, so since tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown, I will demonstrate saving tomato seeds.

One word of warning, saving tomato seeds can be kind of gross, but the following is the way it is done by commercial seed companies. It is also the way it is done for other kinds of produce with interiors that can be described as gloppy or gooey, such as cucumbers and cantaloupes. In fact, in nature these types of vegetables take advantage of the fact that an animal will carry its fruit away, but not eat the gooey part. Nature uses bacteria then to separate the seed from the glop.

An heirloom variety that I am saving

Another variety I am saving that started as a volunteer

To save tomato seed the first step is to pick out specimens that have qualities that you want to keep. Whether this is size or taste, choose what you want to see growing next year. Tomatoes are self fertile so what you save will more than likely breed true. That is to say, you will get the same variety when you grow the seeds again. This is not necessarily true of hybrids though. They may revert back to one of the breeding stock that they were derived from rather than their current form, but there is also a chance that you will get the same hybrid. This is called hybrid stabilization. Also, pick fully ripe fruit from healthy, disease free plants.

“Goop” in a clear jar with a little water added

The seed from the tomato will be fermented to release it from the goop in the tomato. To start this process, cut the tomato across the “equator” of the fruit. Scoop out or squeeze out the “goop” with the seed that is encased within it into a clear container, such as a jar. (Cutting across the “equator” of the fruit makes it easier to squeeze out the seed). Add a little water to the jar to help suspend the seed; it does not need to be full. Too much water will slow down the action of the bacteria that are fermenting the fruit.

Mold forming on the surface of the seed-water mixture

After a couple of days you will see mold forming on the top of the water. When you see this appear, gently stir the seed and water. If you do not stir, the mold may affect the viability of the seed. In a few days the viable seed will sink to the bottom. Skim off all of the material that floats, including any floating seeds. Dump the remaining seed into a strainer or colander that has holes that will not allow the seed to pass through.

Viable seeds have sunk to bottom

Using a garden hose (preferable) or a kitchen faucet, spray the seed to wash away the remaining glop. The seed may stink at this point and you may want to do this outside. Once the seed is clean, you will want to place the seed on a coffee filter or on a wooden surface so it can dry. If you use a paper towel or a piece of office paper the seed may stick. Plastic surfaces may cause the seed to rot before it is dry. Put the seed in a warm dry place and let them dry until they break readily, instead of just bending. Store the seed in a cool dry place in an envelope or in a dry mason jar. Some people freeze seed but you really need to know the moisture content to do this as the seed may rupture if the moisture content is too high.

Fermented seed before cleaning

Cleaning seed with a hose

Seeds after cleaning

If you save only the best seed year after year you will have a true heirloom, totally acclimated to the climate of your garden location and you will have varieties of tomatoes you can call your own. As I said, the process above can be used for cucumber and cantaloupe seeds. You will have to let the fruit of these become very yellow and ripe and save seed from fruit after the vine has died. There are many publications and websites that show how to saves seeds from all possible vegetables grown.